How To Protect Your Business’ Intellectual Property

What is intellectual property?

The law defines intellectual property as intangible creations of the human intellect. It includes artistic work, trademarks, and trade secrets. UK law has many mechanisms in place to protect a business’s intellectual property, all of which are designed to protect the holder. However, often, seeking legal advice is the best way to define an intellectual property strategy because it will protect your assets against potential infringements.

How To Protect Intellectual Property

In the UK, intellectual property laws establish several mechanisms designed to protect businesses against infringements. These include patents, copyrights, and trade secrets, each of which is suited to a specific area.

Copyright

Often, Copyright is used to protect works of authorship including, books, music, art, databases, and software. For example, if a company develops their own generative AI system, it is protected by copyright laws. It is important to note that copyright is automatically granted upon the creation of a database, piece of software, book, song, or piece. The same goes for broadcasts such as videos and podcasts.

Patent

A patent protects an invention such as products, processes, or designs. Examples of famous patented products include the iPhone, the Paperclip, the GPS, and the Rubick’s Cube.

Patents are granted by government organisations such as the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). To apply, the business must provide detailed documents that describe the invention and submit them to the IPO. It then takes 18 months for the IPO to publish the application in full, but it might be several years after the application before the patent is granted depending on the invention and the issues raised during the examination.

Trade Secrets

The law defines trade secrets as being information that gives a business an advantage over its competitors. These include recipes, chemical formulas, and algorithms. Famous examples of trade secrets include the formula for WD40, the Google algorithm, and Apple’s upcoming product launches. Trade Secrets are protected by a trademark and are used on inventions that cannot be patented or those the inventor doesn’t want to disclose to the public.

Trade secrets are contractually protected through non-disclosure agreements and clauses in the employee’s contracts and by the law through the law of confidence and the breach of trust.

What Constitutes a Violation of Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property laws aimed to protect businesses against violations. These include unauthorized use, the likelihood of confusion, copying of creative elements, and patent infringements.

Unauthorised Use:

Unauthorised use refers to another individual or organisation using your copyright, trade secrets or patent without prior authorisation. An example of such a violation would be a third party copying your products without your consent. However, it is possible to licence out your intellectual property which would allow other businesses to use it.

Likelihood of Confusion:

The likelihood of confusion occurs when it is believed one company’s goods or services can be confused for those of another due to similarities in branding, name, or trademark. An example of such a case is when a dog toy company produced toys shaped like whiskey bottles with labels that mimicked those found on a Jack Daniels bottle. Such confusions also include semantic differences, an example of which occurred when Starbucks opposed the trademark application of a small coffee roaster called Charbucks.

Copying Creative Elements:

This is a copyright violation whereby a third party copies your business’ creative elements. It applies to written content, visual content, and arrangements of ideas such as musical compositions or film scores. An example of such a violation occurred when Specsavers successfully took Asda to court over their optician's services that used slogans like: “Be a real Specsavers at Asda” as well as a similar logo. As a result, the court ordered Asda to stop using the slogan and to pay damages to Specsavers.

Patent Infringements:

This is when a third party makes, sells, uses, or imports a patented invention without the patent holder's permission. Consequences of such actions include financial loss, litigation, damaged reputation, and a loss of business opportunities.

One of the most famous patent infringements includes the 2011 case between Apple and Samsung whereby Apple accused Samsung of copying design elements and functionalities such as the pinch-to-zoom feature. However, Samsung counter-sued arguing Apple had violated some of its patents, spiralling into a lengthy court battle between both tech giants. The case made a long-lasting impact on the smartphone industry as it set a precedent of what could and couldn’t be patented in terms of software and design elements.

When Do You Need Legal Advice?

Often the best way for a business to protect its intellectual property is to seek legal advice from a law firm specialising in IP such as Eatons. We will help you draw up non-disclosure agreements, resolve infringements, and secure ownership of your creations. Beyond the protection of your intellectual property, we can also help you licence your ideas and put you in contact with partners that can help you market your ideas.